Having spent half a day or so with him in the mid-'80s, I'm not at all surprised by this.

CSB: I was peripherally involved with the guys running the DWFCA, and among other things I got to do (e.g., putting mailing labels on newsletters while watching "Kentucky Fried Movie" and eating pizza) was that I got to meet a few guest stars at conventions. I was not "inner circle" at all, but I met Pertwee and Sladen at one convention in Denver when instead of standing in line for an autograph (a three-story line down the stairs to the balcony at the Paramount Theatre), I used my recognition by the handlers to instead pull up a chair and sit with them for a spell while they were signing. Pertwee thought it was funny that I had the balls to just sit down next to them and chat, and decided he really liked me when it became clear I didn't want an autograph.

The next morning, I was there early, waiting in line to get in, when their car pulled up about an hour before the door opened. And by the way, Pertwee always did conventions in full costume. He said, "Nobody's here to meet me. They've come to see The Doctor."

So they get out of their car, and they're not going in yet, they're going across the street to a diner for breakfast. Pertwee and Sladen spot me in line (there were only about 9 people at this point), and gesture for me to come with them. (I really enjoyed turning around and shrugging at the other 8 people in line.)

Now, this is a Sunday morning, and that's when "Doctor Who" aired on the local PBS station - whole stories (4-6 episodes) each Sunday morning. So we walk into this diner, and there's a farking Pertwee episode playing on the TV in the diner, and there's Jon Pertwee in full costume standing in the door way. About half the people in the diner and doing double-takes (the other half just think he's a weirdo in a '70s tuxedo and cape), and the guy running the diner is just slack-jawed. Pertwee says, in a perfect aggravated-third-Doctor pitch, "What on earth are you gaping at, man? Kindly seat us for breakfast!" Then he just turns to me and gives me this huge shiat-eating grin. Elisabeth Sladen just about choked from trying to not laugh.

She was fantastic, by the way. Kind and funny and friendly as all get-out. Gave me a hug at the end of that day. Pertwee was not entirely unlike his character, usually a few steps ahead of the conversation, not one to suffer fools, endearingly irritable (well, endearingly if you were on his good side - I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of his irritability), and hilarious. He had the crowd roaring when he was on stage, although I can't for the life of me remember one thing he said.

No Such Agency:100 Watt Walrus:"What on earth are you gaping at, man? Kindly seat us for breakfast!" Then he just turns to me and gives me this huge shiat-eating grin. Elisabeth Sladen just about choked from trying to not laugh.

Kinda... hating you right now.

Would it make you feel any better to know that Peter Davison was kind of a dick to me at another convention a year later?

/To be fair, he was not feeling well at all, and understandably grumpy.